According to a report, Microsoft is infusing its mobile Bing app with voice functionality - and Halo's fictional AI hottie Cortana has been cast in the starring role. In short, Cortana will being going head-to-head with Apple's Siri.

According to MSFTNerd: "Cortana will be voiced by Jen Taylor & will launch first in beta on Lumia this April for US developers. The service will expand to the Bing app for iPhone in the US market this fall. The underlying technology will be extended to American Xbox One & Windows users in 2015 with Threshold. Availability in additional English-speaking territories will be spread out over 2015 & 2016."

Our Take:
I have mixed feelings about this. One, it seems a bit crass to take a core character of the Halo universe and use her as a marketing gimmick. Two, this seems part of Microsoft's pattern of doing everything two years after Apple does it in the smartphone space.